Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system.
Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, an image forming apparatus adopting an electro-photographic system is applied widely as a copier, a printer, a plotter, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction printer having such multiple functions. An operation unit is provided for the image forming apparatus through which a user can switch operations and enter detailed settings of the respective operations. Such operation unit is often disposed in a fixed manner on an upper surface of an apparatus body, but recently, large-sized liquid crystal panels are starting to be adopted, so that if the operation unit is arranged in a fixed manner on the upper surface of the apparatus body, there is a limit to the size of the operation unit capable of being installed to the apparatus body.
Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-347091 discloses an image forming apparatus where an operation unit is disposed as a separate body from the apparatus body, and supported movably by an arm, according to which a large-sized liquid crystal panel can be disposed, regardless of the area or the shape of the upper surface of the apparatus body. In such image forming apparatus, the operation unit can be switched between a state where it is positioned frontward at a right side of the apparatus body and a state where it is positioned at an upper center portion of a front portion of the apparatus body, wherein the operation unit can be used in both states.
However, in the above-described image forming apparatus, the operation unit can only be moved between the front right side area and the center front side area of the apparatus body, so that it has the following drawbacks.
When failure occurs to the image forming apparatus, for example in order to specify the cause of failure, a service person must use the operation unit to confirm various data displayed on the operation unit and enter special operation settings, while checking the actual action of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, if the operation unit is positioned remote from the failure location, the service person must move back and forth for confirmation operation, so that excessive time is required for movement, and speedy recovery is thereby hindered.
For example, in an example where the image forming apparatus is used alone in a normal office or the like, the distance back-and-forth movement required during the confirmation operation is not so long, so that it will not become a problem. On the other hand, for example, in an image forming system capable of performing on-demand printing using a sheet feeding apparatus, a finisher and the like in addition to the image forming apparatus, the distance of back-and-forth movement becomes longer compared to the case where the image forming apparatus is used alone. Especially when the maintenance operation is performed at the rear side of the image forming apparatus, the service person must move back and forth to the front and rear sides of the image forming apparatus, and the work time and work labor will be further increased in the image forming system since the service person must take a detour around other devices.
In the above-described image forming apparatus, the operation unit can only move between the front right side and the front center area of the apparatus body, so that it has a drawback that when the apparatus is applied to a large-scale image forming system as described, the distance of back-and-forth movement of the service person during failure becomes excessive. Moreover, it may also be possible to extend the length of the arm movably supporting the operation unit on the above-described image forming apparatus, with the aim to enhance the degree of freedom of movement of the operation unit. However, for example, if an arm long enough to allow the operation unit to reach the sheet feeding apparatus or the finisher of the above-mentioned image forming system is to be provided, an extremely long arm becomes necessary, so that not only the cost is increased, but the long arm itself may disturb the maintenance operation.